Swiss scientists pioneer 3D printing with live organisms

Today I came across this story from swissinfo.ch

During a test phase, unregistered users can also comment. Bacteria are often associated with disease, however the species used in 3D printer ink are not only harmless, but potentially very useful to humans. A 3D printing platform incorporates living bacteria into the ink, resulting in structures with a range of useful properties that can be targeted for biomedical, environmental, and sanitation applications. Research into three- and four-dimensional printing methods has been advancing rapidly in recent years, but materials scientists at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology ETH Zurich have added a brand new twist – by adding bacteria to their ink. This technique allows them to generate “living materials” with different biochemical properties, depending on the organisms used. So far, the researchers, led by André Studart in ETH Zurich’s Laboratory for Complex Materials, have developed four different inks using different concentrations of Pseudomonas putida and Acetobacter xylinum. Swiss scientists pioneer 3D printing with live organisms